Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. Makes New $50,000 Investment in California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT)

Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CWT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 634,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,747,000 after acquiring an additional 110,962 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in California Water Service Group during the 4th quarter worth $4,704,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 135.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 119,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 68,914 shares during the last quarter. Arjuna Capital purchased a new position in California Water Service Group during the 3rd quarter worth $3,724,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in California Water Service Group by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 161,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,765,000 after acquiring an additional 57,811 shares during the last quarter. 82.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CWT. StockNews.com upgraded California Water Service Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Bank of America started coverage on California Water Service Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded California Water Service Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, California Water Service Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.25.

California Water Service Group Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of California Water Service Group stock opened at $47.51 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.21. California Water Service Group has a 52-week low of $41.64 and a 52-week high of $56.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64.

California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.05). California Water Service Group had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company had revenue of $222.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that California Water Service Group will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

California Water Service Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from California Water Service Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. California Water Service Group’s payout ratio is presently 36.70%.

California Water Service Group Profile

California Water Service Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Texas. The company is involved in the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution, and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public, and irrigation uses, as well as for fire protection services.